Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
… Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Adam Warwick just couldn’t let the bear drown, so he took off his shirt and dive after it. The 375 lbs black bear had been spotted in a residential area, obviously looking for food, and was shot with a tranquilizer dart. Unfortunately, before it went under, it jumped in the water of the Gulf of Mexico. …
click through for more photos and a video – Man Saves 375 lbs Black Bear from Drowning – Treehugger
Andrew Posner searched for a bike for a frequent traveller:
… It had to: be reasonably light (between 20 and 24 pounds); have a steel frame; fold down small enough to fit into a suitcase that can be checked in at the airport; have a wide enough gear ratio to be used for long training rides and hill climbs; and cost no more than around $1,300.
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I eventually settled on the Bike Friday Pocket Rocket, a $999 dollar bike that comes with a beautiful fire-engine red paint job, drop handlebars, a steel frame, and easy folding capabilities. The 20 inch wheels roll fast enough to make long rides possible, while still being small enough to fit into a suitcase. For another $250 you can purchase a special suitcase designed for the bike; the suitcase can be checked in at the airport as standard luggage (read that: no extra charges). Traveling with a bicycle couldn’t be easier. …
This is the best travel bike I’ve found, so far.
Bike Friday – details
Fall is the most beautiful time of the year in the outdoors, I feel.
larger original – flickr – starmist1
larger original – flickr – Idle Type
larger original – flickr – Just-Us-3
More “interesting” Fall foliage photos.
Gadling posted the best locations for Fall foliage in North America.
Leave a comment below if you have your own favourite hiking destination in the Fall. Mine is Lake O’Hara in the Canadian Rockies.
Sadly I missed the world’s greatest hiker when he spoke in my city last week.
He’s on tour following his 11,000-kilometre Great Western Loop in 208 days, a blistering pace of 53 kilometres per day.
Next on his calendar:
Thurs, Nov 20 — National Geographic Adventurer of the Year — Washington DC
Sat, Nov 22 — Explorers Festival – Lodz, Poland
Fri, Jan 9 — Cuyahoga Valley National Park — Brecksville, OH
Thurs, Jan 15 — Mystic Seaport — Mystic, CT
events will be updated on his services page.
Hardcore hiker Jonathan Ley has done the Continental Divide Trail and Pacific Crest Trail.
But I was most interested in his unique adventure in Iceland:
The photos are terrific:
I really want to trek Iceland after seeing them!
Why Iceland?
When I was hiking the CDT, I had a lot of time to dream-up other hiking trips all over the world. One of those was a hike across Iceland… No particular reason, it sounded like it’d be interesting. When my friend Dave mentioned that he had the same idea, it seemed meant to be. The trip was a lot more enjoyable and safer with a traveling companion.
Iceland is a unique place. It is located along the Atlantic rift, where the earth’s crust is separating. As a result, there are a lot of geothermal features (volcanoes, hot springs, etc) all over the country. Iceland is quite far north – the Arctic circle was just offshore from our starting point – but, the climate is kept somewhat temperate by ocean currents. The land is one of stark beauty, shaped by ice, wind, and volcanoes.
How long was the route?
Even after completing the hike, I’m still not sure. Our best estimate was somewhere around 360-380 miles.
When did you hike?
We started on June 23, 2006, and finished on July 11, 2006.
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Where / how did you resupply?
The population of Iceland is a sparse 300,000, and most of those live near ReykjavÃk. Virtually nobody lives in the interior. Still, we passed through a couple areas where we could resupply. There is a small town near the lake Mývatn in the north, and a summer “backpacking village” at Landmannalauger in the south. We sent packages to both places, but it’s possible to buy provisions “as you go”.
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Has anyone else done this?
People have hiked across Iceland via a number of routes, but each trip has probably been somewhat unique, and the total number is likely small. Since returning from the trip, I’ve been contacted by at least one other American who completed a similar trip a number of years ago… I’m not sure if there are more. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This is the Via Ferrata Peille, France.
There are many others:
A via ferrata (Italian for “iron road” … is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities. Walkers and climbers can follow via ferratas without needing to use their own ropes and belays, and without the risks associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing. They are found in a number of European countries, including Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden; and a few places in the United States, Canada and England. The first via ferratas were built in the Dolomite mountain region of Italy during the First World War, to aid the movement of mountain infantry. …
The Samariá Gorge is a national park on the island of Crete, and a major tourist attraction of the island.
… the gorge is 16km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250m at the northern entrance, and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli.
… The most famous part of the gorge is the stretch known as the Iron Gates, where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only four meters and soar up to a height of 500 m.
The most famous photo op, the “Portes”:
larger original – flickr – green_lover
Jari Arkko posted a trip report of his one day guided hike up the active Mount Batur volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali.
… as a climbing mountain it was rather mellow. I was still exhausted from the climb and got painful blisters on both of my feet. But it was clearly a mountain still full of volcanic potential, and the apes, local culture, and great views added to the interest. The guide agency that I used was Santa Bali …
trip report – Hiking to Mt. Batur, Bali, Indonesia
It costs around $65 if you take a guide.
Legendary alpinist Greg Child is a hiker too. Guided 5 days in a raft, 5 days on foot, his trip report posted by Backpacker magazine begins like this:
It’s a sunburned September day in southeast Utah, and I’m following 10 parched hikers through a jumble of burnished boulders and sparsely spaced cottonwood trees on the floor of a sinuous canyon called Grand Gulch. Amber-tinted sunbeams filter into the 700-foot-deep chasm and light up our lanky, long-haired, bird-legged backpacking guide, Vaughn Hadenfeldt. He’s hunting for potable water, but the only pools we’ve found so far are a speckled latte brown. “A flash flood ripped through here two weeks ago,” he tells us, “and these pools still aren’t settled. If we don’t find one that is, we’ll be pickin’ grit out of our teeth all night.” …
… read the rest of this article
See more gorgeous photos of Grand Gulch posted by Jack Brauer from his 4-day hike of Grand Gulch.
We’ve added Grand Gulch to our list of the best hikes in North America.
Backpacker magazine has their annual Readers’ Choice 2009 survey up online.
A sample: Which of the … mountain photos is your favorite?
screenshot
Click through to register your votes: Readers’ Choice 2009 Survey
besthike.com 